• Everton Jaison
• Tetiwe Mupakwe
• Daiton Mawira
• Nathan Sangombe
• Benjamin Chirambiwa

Inefficient weed control is one of the main causes of low maize grain yield in A1 resettlement farms where each farmer owns six hectares of land. Farmers rely exclusively on mechanical methods of weed control which need timely implementation and high labor input, which are difficult to meet on these farms. Farmers are encourage to use herbicides for weed control which could be combined with ox-drawn cultivation as a deliberate strategy to reduce the herbicide quantities which are required for weed control also reducing the costs. The objective of this study was to evaluate banded Atrazine at 1.8 l /ha + Metolachlor at 0.5 l /ha applied to 45 cm bands over the crop row pre-ermegence and ox-drawn cultivation, full cover spray Atrazine at 3.6 l / ha + Metolachlor at 1.0 l /ha only and hand hoeing in a high potential farming area in Chinhoyi, located in Zimbabwe. These treatments were replicated twice per site and were arranged in RCBD. The weed control * farm interaction was only significant (p<0.05) at the first weed sampling. However, the main effects of weed control and farm were significant (p<0.05) at all sampling times. The weed control*farm interaction was not significant (p˃0.05) on cob count, plant population and maize grain yield. The weed control main effects were significant (p<0.05) on cob count and maize grain yield. The farm effects were significant (p<0.05) on all maize parameters. In this study it was found that banded Atrazine + Metolachlor + ox-cultivation and full cover spray Atrazine + Metolachlor had low weed counts compared to hand hoeing. It was concluded that banded or full cover herbicide sprays had good efficacy on weeds compared to hand hoeing. The full cover spray Atrazine had the highest grain yield compared to banded Atrazine + Metolachlor + ox-cultivation and hand hoeing. However, banded Atrazine + Metolachlor had a higher grain yield compared to hand hoeing.

Band application, Cultivation, Herbicides, Smallholder farming.

"Evaluation of band application of Atrazine and Metolachlor plus ox drawn cultivation for the control of weeds in maize under smallholder farming conditions in Zimbabwe.", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.11, Issue 2, page no.b215-b235, February-2024, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2402124.pdf

"Evaluation of band application of Atrazine and Metolachlor plus ox drawn cultivation for the control of weeds in maize under smallholder farming conditions in Zimbabwe.", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.11, Issue 2, page no. ppb215-b235, February-2024, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2402124.pdf